Tough Lover
by The Final Girl
Summary: AU- Willow and Tara were best friends, but never dated, and Tara is with Spike when she was brainsucked by Glory.


Title: Tough Lover  
  
Author: The Final Girl  
  
Feedback: Please, send it to finalgrrrl@hotmail.com  
  
Distribution: Anywhere and everywhere, ask first  
  
Spoilers: Tough Love  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Pairings: Tara/Spike, Xander/Anya, Willow/Buffy  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing  
  
Summary: AU- Willow and Tara are best friends but weren't a couple, and Tara was with Spike when she was brain-sucked by Glory. This was in reponse to Challenge #26 at Your Mission.  
  
She looked so cute, in that tank top and those pj pants with ducks on them. They were made to fit a woman, but looked like they could belong to a child. But really, that's what she'd been reduced to. She was a child now. A very frightened, lonely, insane child in a beautiful woman's body, but still a child. Just yesterday, she and Spike had argued, prompting Tara to go take a long walk. Spike wanted to run after her, bring her back to the crypt and make it up to her, apologize for whatever he'd done, but it was daylight.  
  
But hellgods aren't affected by daylight, and it didn't matter that Tara was outside an ice cream parlor with lots of people around- Glory didn't care. She brainsucked Tara anyway, stealing her sanity. Willow found her wandering around, crying, asking what happened to the flying fish and why the trees were pink. Willow and Buffy took their friend to the hospital, and while the doctor insisted Tara stayed the night, Spike had his way, without inadvertantly showing his gameface.  
  
Now Spike was on the couch, Tara sprawled on top of him. He was stroking her hair, whispering into it when she'd get upset. It was late at night, and the Scoobies were in Xander and Anya's apartment. Spike knew that while he and Anya were close friends, best friends, in fact, he was not welcome as far as Xander was concerned. The group was trying to decide where Tara would stay for the night. It was obvious that she wouldn't be able to stay at home with Buffy and Willow, the two lovers wouldn't have the right knowledge or time to care for her. So Spike insisted he said at the apartment with Xander and Anya.  
  
"You know these two lovebirds will be two busy to care for Tara," he pointed out.  
  
"Hey, that's not true," Buffy said, "she's one of my best friends, of course I'll care for her."  
  
"How?" Willow asked. "We don't know the first thing about this. Spike dealt with an insane woman for over a hundred years, I think he'd be better with this."  
  
"Spike," Buffy began, "I know we've been getting along better. I'm actually starting to consider you a friend. But there's no way you're staying at my house. I love Tara, but I just can't deal with this right now, and I don't think Dawn can either."  
  
"Dawn loves Spike and Tara," Willow pointed out.  
  
"Honey, you're not helping. Look, why don't you guys just stay in the guest room here. I mean, it doesn't look like Tara's gonna want to move anytime soon." She pointed to the girl, who was curled up on the couch, her head in Spike's lap, babbling incoherently.  
  
"Hey!" Xander cut in. "Don't I have any say in this? I can't say I'm real comfortable with having a mass-murdering, albeit neutered, demon under my roof!"  
  
"Hello? I was a mass-murdering demon. I've changed, and you've accepted that. Why can't you do the same for Spike?" Anya asked "Besides. It's not just your roof. It's mine... and everyone else's who lives in this apartment building..."  
  
"Well? Do I get to stay here, or do I have to give myself a bloody chipectomy and kick the whelp's ass?" Spike said, pointing to Xander.  
  
"There doesn't have to be any whelp-kicking, Spike, you're staying here," Anya said firmly. After seeing the pained look Xander gave her, she added in a softer voice, "He can't leave Tara here. Who knows how she'll act if she wakes up and he's gone?"  
  
"Or a big pile of dust. I want a guarantee that I'm not to wake up with a severe sunburn."  
  
Xander sighed, resigned. "Fine. But this is only because I care about Tara, and I know she cares about you. I can't imagine, why, but she does. So Anya can fix up the guest room and you two can stay there."  
  
Suddenly Tara sat up straight and began to cry. "But the puppies don't want to go to Red Lobster. Y-y-you just can't m-make them. The Prince says no too, so don't even--stop it! Stop it! Sto--"  
  
Spike quieted her down by running a hand through her hair. "Shh, quiet, love, it'll all be ok in the morning. The puppies don't have to go to Red Lobster if they don't want. We'll um, we'll take them to Applebee's, alright?"  
  
"Well, Willow and I want to stay but she's got a class early tomorrow. Don't you sweetie?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Yep. Ancient and Medieval History, bright and early. And I really can't stand Professor Jacobs."  
  
Spike looked at the clock, and noted that it was close to midnight. "Thanks for reminding me, it's time for her medication again," Spike said.  
  
As the two girls left, Spike got Tara's medication for her, and Anya went to go fix up the guest room to make it suitable for her best friend and his girlfriend. Spike was left in the living room with Tara, now calm with a faraway look in her eyes, and Xander, who was pacing around the living room nervously. He thought about saying something to Spike, but what could he possibly say to make him feel better. "Oh, sorry about your newly insane girlfriend. Tough break." While he was outwardly mean to Spike, he almost liked the guy. Still, he couldn't stand this awkward silence. He yawned a little bit too loudly. "Well, I'm beat," he said, "Goodnight, Spike. Night, Tara."  
  
"It's like a backwards clock," she replied.  
  
Spike, looking worried, said, "Goodnight, Harris. Thanks for letting me and Tara stay here." Finally Anya finished the guest room, and came out and said goodnight. He got up, then carried Tara to bed while listening to her ramble on about insect reflections and flourescent lights. He gave her a sleeping pill and laid down with her, holding her, until she finally fell asleep.  
  
But for Spike, sleep would not come. Indeed, he was a creature of the night, and not supposed to be sleeping at 12 a.m., but he always slept at will when he spent the night with Tara. Why should tonight be any different? Of course it's different, he thought. Finally, in an attempt to silence his unquiet mind, he got up, and went into the living room in search of some reading material.  
  
He flipped through one of Anya's catalouges until she came in the room. "Couldn't sleep?"  
  
"Not for the unlife of me."  
  
"How are you holding up?" she asked, beginning to massage his tense shoulders.  
  
He sighed. "I should be able to handle this, but it's so hard. Like Willow siad earlier, I put up with Drusilla and her madness for so long, but she was always crazy, or at least for the entire time I knew her. But Tara..."  
  
"I understand. Well, I suppose I can't understand since Xander's never been crazy, and I didn't have an insane lover for over a century, but I can sympathize with you."  
  
He gave a short bark of laughter. "Sympathy. Empathy. All that rot. We're really not supposed to be feeling that, you know. Anyanka."  
  
"You're not. I am. I'm not Anyanka anymore, I'm Anya. Newly human, remember?"  
  
"Once a demon, always a demon, right? I don't know what it is with me. I don't have a soul, all I have is a leash, but I'm in love with a woman, who, three years ago, I wouldn't've hestitated to drain. And you know what's odd? As much as a crave a good glass of B-positive, I don't really have the desire to kill anymore."  
  
"Because of Tara?"  
  
"Well... yeah. And no. I've changed so much, and I don't know how much of it's her, and how much of it's just me."  
  
"As Buffy says, Love makes you do the wacky." She frowned. "I don't know what 'the wacky' is."  
  
He chuckled, and for a few moments they sat together quietly until Anya spoke. In a soft voice, she asked him, "How do you do this?"  
  
"Do what, love?"  
  
"I know this sounds awful, but she might never get better. Would you stay with her?"  
  
"I stayed with Dru for--"  
  
"This isn't about Dru. This is about you, and Tara. Would you be able to stay with her if she never got better?"  
  
He looked quite serious as he said to her, "Anya, I made a commitment to this girl. To me, that means forever. I have to honor that no matter what. And if that means spending the rest of her life giving her medicine and listen to her rant about puppies going to Red Lobster, then so be it."  
  
"That's tough."  
  
"That's life."  
  
The two sat together in comfortable silence until Anya began to feel tired. "I think I'm going to sleep now," she told Spike. "Goodnight." She gave him a very soft, very platonic kiss on the cheek, and walked into the bedroom she shared with Xander.  
  
After flipping through the magazines and television stations, Spike decided it was time to curl up in bed with Tara.  
  
It would be better in the morning. 


End file.
